Russia and Saudi Arabia sign visa-free travel pact

• Deal announced in Riyadh
• Easier for ‘students, visitors and tourists’
• Saudi maintaining relations with Russia and US

Saudi Arabia and Russia have agreed to mutual visa exemptions, increasing ease of movement between the two countries and signalling the kingdom’s desire to maintain balance in its international relations.

Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak and Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan signed an agreement at a Saudi-Russian Investment and Business Forum in Riyadh on Monday, allowing Russians visa-free access to Saudi Arabia for the first time.

At present, Saudis can enter Russia using an e-visa while Russians are eligible to buy a visa on arrival to Saudi Arabia for $150.

Forum attendees heard that the deal would simplify mobility “for students, visitors and tourists”.

The agreement suggests Saudi Arabia wants to continue its close ties with both Russia and the US, coming as it does two weeks after a high-profile visit to Washington DC by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

On that trip, he committed Saudi Arabia to raise total investment in the US economy to $1 trillion, while the Trump administration agreed to sell advanced F-35 fighters and sophisticated microchips to the kingdom.

Russia, for its part, is a major partner of Saudi Arabia in the Opec+ grouping of oil-producing states.

Visa exceptions have the potential to triple the volume of Russian tourism to Saudi Arabia, particularly to the holy cities, according to the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR).

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About 21.5 million Russians, 15 percent of the country’s population, are Muslim.

Saudi Arabia entered the top three international destinations for Russians for the first time in May, according to ATOR. In the first quarter of this year, the number of inbound Russian tourists was 9,900.

Earlier this year, Russia and Saudi Arabia announced the first direct flights between the two countries. The first regularly scheduled direct flight from Riyadh to Moscow, a Flynas flight that operates four times a week, landed in Russia on August 1.

Alongside the agreement on visa exemptions, Novak signed a memorandum of understanding with Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman to deepen cooperation on addressing climate change.